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Age Differences in the Relationship Between Interoception and Emotional Processing
Sophie Cawkwell1, Kata Pauly-Takacs1, Katerina Zoe Kolokotroni1
1School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds LS1 3HE, UK.
Behavioral Sciences (Basel, Switzerland)
|May 27, 2026
Summary
Older adults show a positivity bias in emotional memory, trusting bodily sensations more. Age-related changes in interoception (sensitivity to bodily signals) influence emotional learning and memory across adulthood.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Psychology
- Gerontology
Background:
- Understanding age-related changes in emotional cognition is crucial.
- Bodily signals (interoception) may influence emotional learning and memory.
- Previous research has not fully explored interoception's role in age-related emotional memory differences.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate age-related differences in interoceptive sensitivity and emotional associative memory.
- To examine how interoception relates to emotional associative memory in younger and older adults.
- To explore the physiological underpinnings of the positivity bias in aging.
Main Methods:
- Forty younger (18-39) and forty older (60-85) adults participated.
- Participants completed behavioral and self-report measures of interoceptive sensitivity (accuracy, attention, beliefs, insight).
- An emotional face-name associative learning, recall, and recognition task was administered.
Main Results:
- No age differences in interoceptive accuracy, attention, or insight were found.
- Older adults reported greater trust and less worry regarding bodily sensations (interoceptive beliefs).
- Older adults exhibited a positivity bias, recalling happy face-name pairs better; younger adults showed uniform performance.
- Interoception-emotion associations differed: young adults' interoceptive attention linked to neutral pair learning, older adults' interoceptive accuracy linked to angry pair recall.
Conclusions:
- Age-related differences in emotional associative memory are partly explained by changes in interoceptive processing.
- Older adults' selective changes in interoceptive beliefs may contribute to the positivity bias.
- Interoception is identified as a physiological factor influencing the positivity bias in aging, extending Socioemotional Selectivity Theory.
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